Director of schools discusses plans, vision for Metro

It's only been a few months into the school year, and Dr. Shawn Joseph has already encountered obstacles as he works to improve Metro Schools.

On Tuesday, he was honored for his goals and vision at a luncheon at Trevecca Nazarene University.

The director of schools gave a speech on education in Nashville and the work he is doing in Metro Schools.

Joseph said he and his team have come together and hired 31 principals and put together a diverse senior leadership team. Joseph said it mirrors the diversity of the school system, but said there’s still work to do.

“Are our students learning? And if they’re not learning, what resources do we put in place to do something about it? Because we will not accept, as a community, 30 percent of our community reading on grade level,” Joseph said.

Joseph added they are going even deeper to ask why and working on the problems from there.

He said this is the hardest year because he and his team are in the process of building the plan. Joseph said year two is about executing it.

The luncheon was hosted by the School of Education at Trevecca. Organizers said they attended one of Joseph's "lunch and learn" sessions earlier this year and they were extremely inspired by his vision and plans for Nashville schools.

Joseph spoke to various leaders from Metro Schools, TEA, The Tennessee Organization of School Superintendents and Trevecca's School of education.

Luke Collins sits at the UCHRA Board meeting on Feb. 20, 2018. The UCHRA Board voted to place Collins on administrative leave with pay at the meeting. He was terminated at a meeting held on May 9, 2018. (WSMV)

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